'The king': Declan Rice names the Tottenham player who is one of his closest friends in football

Today at 01:19 AM

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur face each other at the Emirates in the first North London Derby of the year.

The Gunners are in desperate need of a win. They have lost back-to-back games against Newcastle and Manchester United over the last week, and that must have had an impact on their confidence.

The derby against Spurs has arguably come at the right time for Arsenal – there’s no other game that would excite them more than this one.

Declan Rice is desperate to play in the derby after missing the reverse fixture earlier in the season due to suspension. He has now had his say on one Tottenham star.

Declan Rice says Tottenham’s James Maddison is one of his closest friends in football

Rice and James Maddison have always shared a great relationship.

The two midfielders have spent a lot of time together over the years in the England camp, and they have become close mates.

Ahead of the North London Derby, Rice spoke to Peter Crouch, who used to play for Tottenham back in the day, about the game on Wednesday night.

The pundit asked the Arsenal man if he has any friends in the Spurs camp. Rice admitted that he is really close to Maddison and even branded him as the ‘king of banter’.

He also claimed that he’s sure Maddison will come up with some sort of banter to pull his leg ahead of the big derby at the Emirates.

Rice said on TNT Sports: “Obviously, Madders is one of my proper closest mates in football. I don’t really know too many of their other lads.

“But Madders, he’s the king of banter, isn’t he? I’m sure he’ll have something to say before the game.”

Maddison’s record against Arsenal is not great

Maddison will be hoping to get a start against Arsenal on Wednesday night.

The Englishman has had to start from the bench in each of Tottenham’s last three Premier League games, which must have hurt him. That’s because Dejan Kulusevski has had a much better season than him.

That could tempt Postecoglou to continue with the Swede, and a look at Maddison’s record against Arsenal could convince him to do just that.

In 12 games in all competitions over the years, Maddison has lost eight times against Arsenal. But, he has directly contributed to six goals, which isn’t too bad.

In Tottenham’s colours, Maddison has played three times and has lost two and drawn one of those games. That is not a great record.